¶ … Flat (2006), Thomas Friedman describes the new global capitalist economy and how it has affected the United States, as well as the type of skills and education that will be most in demand in the 21st Century. Even white-collar workers, managers and engineers have been doing poorly because of globalization, while unskilled and semiskilled blue-collar workers have been devastated. Construction and manufacturing workers with only a high school education have been losing ground in wealth and incomes to the elites for the last thirty years. This era has been far better for the creative and imaginative designers of new technologies than those performing routine tasks. For the last ten years, the majority of Americans were surviving through inflated credit, mortgage and asset bubbles, but when these collapsed in 2008-09 their true economic situation became stark. Friedman's main thesis is that those workers with flexible, adaptive, creative skills who can understand the new technologies and learn to work as part of a global team will thrive, while those trapped in the old economy will continue to experience diminished living standards and find their jobs either outsourced to Asia or to the past. Friedman is certainly correct that this has been occurring for the last thirty years, although he underestimates just how unpopular the process has been in the United States, especially because it has been designed of, for and by elite groups to benefit themselves and often in a highly undemocratic manner -- a problem that has been getting worse in recent years. In a 'flat' or globalized world, everyone is part of an international supply chain, with buyers and sellers in many countries. Those who cannot think globally will not survive, since every young person in America is now in competition with their peers in China, India and Brazil, even if they never see them in person (Friedman, p. 278). Friedman makes the same point that those who survive...
World Is Flat by Tom Friedman From the term "The World is flat," Tom Friedman means the international competitive ground is being leveled. It is now possible for individuals to work together and contend directly with others on different types of work from different sides of the globe and on an equivalent ground than in the world history. Friedman considers that this "flattening" around the globe is the result of ten
As all these human needs are connected with each other, it is not surprising then, that the human need to connect is inherently connected with the human need for knowledge. In 11/9/89, the Berlin Wall fell because it prevented people from physically knowing and hearing about worlds that existed beyond the wall. In 8/9/95, Netscape was launced and made public because it would not only connect people with each other,
Globally, communication technology has made it possible for businesses to expand much faster and more easily than was the case before. Cultural research is much easier by means of the Internet and electronic communication. Expansion and research into market requirements are similarly facilitated and much cheaper than the case was before. These are but a few of the ways in which the world has become a "flatter" place for
273). And Vela-Gude's article offers several of the main points of this paper's research; the services must be ready, and the counselors must be thoroughly informed and knowledgeable about the cultural implications as well as the academic realities facing those Latino students (2009). Racism Against Latinos This paper alludes to the high number of Latinos in California and Texas, but according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's research, the South is home
. Lack of tax incentives for infrastructure development including broadband penetration. The key elements of the infrastructure including electricity, telephone and internet service are at time unpredictable in their performance. The biggest weakness of India today is its infrastructure, and with only 30% of the workforce relying on communications links to other nations, India will be forced to spend greater and greater percentages of their GNP on making their infrastructure world class. . Growth of Instant Messaging and
(Ghemawat, 2001) Ghemawat states that administrative distance in relation to 'preferential trading agreements' involves gold, electricity, coffee, tea, cocoa spices, textiles fibers as well as sugar, sugar preparations and honey. Also included are gas and travel goods such as handbags as well as footwear and sanitary, plumbing, heating and lighting fixtures and furniture parts. Geographic distance factors impact products such as electricity current transfer over long distances, gas transfer, paper,
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